Tag Archives: small

Yes, after a 3 month “SmallSteps2Health” hiatus, I’m back. I didn’t fall off the health train. On the contrary, I’ve been doing a nice job of staying on course in terms of movement, nutrition and stress management. The reason for the gap between my last post (Jack Lalanne’s Birthday) and today comes down to managing my time and the number of goals I had going at one time. I bit off more than I could chew, and had to back off of the blog to complete challenging goal in a way that would make me proud.

Last year, in the spirit of “When Was The Last Time, You Did Something For The First Time”, I took on something called Project 365. It’s a project relating to one of my passions, photography, that amounts to a year-long creative marathon in which you have to take a photo, process it and post it each day for a year. It sounds relatively easy, but you can’t gunnysack photos, so each day the clock starts again and you can’t use great photos from prior days. Also, as you move along, you set a standard for your shots that creates a self imposed level of quality that is quite powerful. I really enjoyed the project, it was incredibly difficult, I learned a lot, have some great photos from 2014, and I’m very glad to be finished. If you’d like to check out some of the photos in my Project 365, simply click those words in this post, or the sample shot of my daughter to the left.

Now that I’m back, I have a lot of content that I’ve saved up via articles, clippings, quotes, etc. (all in Evernote), so there will be more soon. While I’m a fan of linking together small steps and decisions to achieve good health and not a fan of “New Year’s Resolutions”, I’ll hold off any of my own. I will say that the next 3 months will be very interesting for me, since I’ll be running my first 1/2 Marathon in early February, another Tough Mudder in late March, and my first full Marathon in late April. So the training, knee management and mental preparation has begun.

First of all, I hope you had a warm, safe and and fun New Year holiday. Yes, it’s 2014 and although I can have almost any product appear at my door in two days via Amazon Prime, I’m still waiting on my hovercraft and teleporter to arrive. Perhaps next year.

As you likely already knew, the beginning of each year not only brings a symbolic close to the one before, but it brings with it a chance to turn over a new leaf, do something different, or tackle a goal that’s been waiting in the wings (or suppressed) for too long. Whether it come in the form of a resolution (which I feel is synonymous with “something I won’t be doing 30 days from now”) or a more formal plan of attack, I’m a fan of any milestone that drives even potential positive personal change.

Regardless of any large-scale plans you have for 2014, I would love it if you would also weave some “small steps” into what’s going to make you a better, healthier, and happier version of yourself in the new year. Pick 3 to 5 small things you can do that won’t feel like significant actions in isolation, but when strung together can make a meaningful difference. Things like…

“No stairs in 2014”

At least 48oz of water/day in 2014

100 sit-ups/50 push-ups/day in 2014

A 20 minute brisk walk during lunch 3 out of 5 days in 2014

No going back for 2nds in 2014

Resign my membership to “The Clean Plate Club” in 2014

Run a 5K, 10K, mudder, 1/2 Marathon, full Marathon, RAGNAR, or some other event in 2014

Spend more time outside in 2014

No “Drive Thru” in 2014 (this is possible by the way)

50 Jumping Jacks during TV Commercials at least 1/Day in 2014

Connect with a dear friend you haven’t spoken with in a while in 2014

…add any of 1,000,000 other small steps you could come up with here as options.

It’s not about the magnitude, it’s about stringing together good decisions that when combined will make you healthier in mind, body and/or soul. String enough of them together long enough, and before you know it you will have changed how you operate, in a good way, without feeling that “cold turkey”, mountain-to-climb, heavy feeling that makes it seem like the changes are fighting your natural behaviors, desires, etc.

I wish you and yours the best in 2014, and hope that it’s a launch pad to a healthier you. Cheers!

I saw a snippet today from Yahoo!Shine that noted that a study led by the BBC and University of Chester (UK), demonstrated that standing an extra 3 hours per day instead of sitting, equates to burning 50 additional calories per hour (for those hours). This equates to an additional 30,000 calories per year (or 8 lbs). While it’s not always easy, many companies including my own are exploring adjustable work-spaces that allow employees to comfortably work at a computer, phone, ect. while sitting or standing. The same logic flows to other time spent watching TV, watching your kid play a sporting event, etc. So, in the spirit of “small steps”, how about looking for opportunities to stand more, and sit less. Why not take a stand to get more healthy?

This week, commit to taking the stairs, and only parking on the far-end of the parking lot. You’ll burn more calories, keep that metabolism up and help fight off the lag that comes from too much time on the couch or sitting in front of the computer.

At 20 years old I was half way through my third year in college, I was living with my girlfriend, and I was stressed out to the point that I literally fell apart. I was putting way too much pressure on myself academically, and struggling to fulfill all of the demands others put on me, or those that simply come from playing so many roles in life. I was anxious and depressed, which strangely enough go together like peanut butter and jelly, and I needed the help of a psychologist to help me work through my issues. While working with her, there were a number of things I did to turn the corner emotionally. However, one of the most profound and relatively simple actions I took was to begin focusing on nutrition and physical fitness – – in an effort to simply do something good for myself. Prior to this shift I certainly wasn’t a couch potato. I surfed, played a number of sports and was active. However, during this rough period in my life, I literally felt like I was doing everything for someone else, or for extrinsic reasons. I felt exhausted, spent and as if I weren’t doing anything just for me.

So in 1991, during winter final examinations I started to make changes to my diet, and I went to Big 5 Sporting Goods and bought some free weights, a bench, a weight belt, and some workout gloves. My theory was that if I started something during such a challenging week, I’d have no good excuse in the future to avoid a workout. I started my fitness routine small (about 30 minutes, every other day), and my goal was never to transform myself into a Jr. Hulk. I wanted to feel good, look good and be “functionally fit”. My personal approach was to link a series of small steps (aka decisions) together to become more healthy, and to be extremely selfish when it came to my workout routine and diet. Blasphemy I know, but to me it was critical that I make my health a personal priority and protect the time required to create and sustain a routine, at almost any cost. That meant that my workouts (e.g. weight training, push-ups, crunches and/or runs) were a daily priority, and I would not compromise them. This is much easier to write than pull off in the real world. Even those that like the visible signs of fitness try and pull you away from what it takes to be healthy. Thus, until your girlfriend’s mother is coming into town and dinner’s at 6pm, or someone plans something important and gives you a key role and you’re going to be late – – and your response is “I will join you as soon as I’m done with my workout”, you’re going to struggle. I didn’t look back. I kept with it, created a healthy routine (grew to about an hour a day), and I’ve missed very few workouts over the past 22 years. My routine must be adapted when I travel, and I back off when injured or sick, but I’ve been through at least 6 workout benches, 50+ pairs of gloves, over 40+ pairs of running shoes, and one weight belt… and I haven’t given up my right to bow out of an evening event while on business travel or otherwise in order to ensure I do what’s right for my body.

I find it interesting that many who struggle with weight or overall health issues often represent “the giving tree” in human form. They find themselves completely pulled apart and drained from the many roles they play in life (mother, worker, care-taker, friend, student, etc.), and they have nothing left for themselves. Often, this manifests itself in poor eating habits (e.g. eating what’s easy/quick) and an inability to carve out the time (or sustain the time) required to build muscle and get that heart beating for a reasonable period of time every day. They behave so selflessly, they are actually slowly killing themselves. So for the lucky few who seek an intervention in any form (e.g. personal trainer), part of the transformation requires the development of a healthy level of selfishness. A really difficult hurdle to jump, particularly given the fact that “selfishness is bad” has been drilled into our psyches from the day we were born. However, in this case, I believe we all deserve a minimum of 1 hour a day to be selfish and take care of ourselves.

Find hour a day for a workout routine that works for you, and stick with it. It doesn’t have to be P90X, Cross-Fit, or include a gym membership of any kind (all of which are fine options by the way), because all that really matters is that it works for you, and that you do it consistently – – and never stop. Allow yourself 1 hour of selfish fitness time every day, and the quality of your other 23 hours will be much better for you and those around you.

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Small steps add up!!!

My contribution to the Weekly Writing Challenge from the Daily Post. A special thanks to my “Blog Yoda” Rarasaur for letting me know about the contest. If you haven’t checked out her blog, you’re definitely missing something great.

Just ready a brief snippet via slide-show called “20 Little Changes for a Healthier Life” provided by Men’s Health. Clearly this piece was put together with smallsteps2health in mind, so I had to re-post it. I’ll let you view the slideshow for yourself, but here’s a summary of the recommended changes:

Go Fishing Once Per Week (aka at least 1 serving of fish 1/week)

Dry Brush Your Teeth (or at minimum, brush and floss daily)

Never Skip Breakfast

Eat More Pasta (This one’s a trick. The real advice centers around the health benefits of eating tomato sauce 2x/week… e.g. reduced risk of prostate cancer. Here’s the deal, tomatoes are a super food, and strangely one of the only super-foods that’s better for you after it’s broken down. Thus, you don’t really need to pasta to eat more tomatoes or tomato sauce.)

Protect Your Erection With Blueberries (How much did the blueberry farmers pay to have this one added?)

Request the Chilean Red

Lend a Hand (purpose and happiness are correlated with longevity — give back and pay it forward).

Crunch Away Back Pain (and if you’re up to it, go for super-crunches).

Order Thin Crust Pizza (a simple, lower calorie substitution).

Skip that Second Cup (of coffee – difficult one for me)

Save Your Marriage (a noble cause that is good for you)

Exercise Your Depression Away (Endorphins are great anti-depressants)

Fall Asleep With Cherries (who knew?)

Put a Shoe On Your Pillow (to test it’s support)

Kur Your Fatigue (very interesting)

Raise Your Rear View (Mirror – to help your posture)

Take Vitamin E and Aspirin Daily

Have A Banana (Maybe the perfect food for the human body)

So a list of potential small steps to consider and all in the spirit of linking a number of good decisions daily, to achieve better health. Hopefully, there are at least one or two here that you can add to your repertoire.

One year ago today I started SmallStepsToHealth. I can’t say I have a huge following, but that wasn’t the purpose. Much like my health philosophy, I’m a fan of linking a series of small steps together, in order to have a positive impact. Thus, I may have achieved 5,000 views the hard way (e.g. 15 or so a day), but I’ll take them. It’s really inspiring to see so many visitors from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. As well as all of the visitors from North, Central, South America, and Australia. Cheers to all of you!

I want to think everyone who has stopped by, shared a like and/or a comment, and been a part of year 1. I’ve appreciated the new friendships and learning, and if smallsteps2health helps you make one better decision, then I consider it a success.

Last week I decided I wanted to trim by 5 pounds. Given my frame, fitness routine, age, etc, I believe my ideal weight to be 5 lbs lighter, so I decided to take a couple of additional small steps to achieve this. Since I’m pretty active and generally watch what I eat, am making the following adjustments to get my 5:

Fewer Tortilla Chips. Even though I have a sanctioned “Chips N’ Salsa” vice, I am reducing the amount of chips that can accompany my salsa in a given week (probably dropping the intake by 50%. If you’ve followed my blog, you’ll know tortilla chips are the only “chip” that is sanctioned in my diet at all (simply because I think chips n’ salsa are awesome in general).

Carb reduction. I’m a fan of carbs and while I’ve known many who have seen great weight-loss results from diets like Atkins, it’s not for me. However, I have decided to reduce carbs by 50%, and am taking extra care to ensure those carbs I to eat are “working for me” (aka healthy carbs).

It’s been about 5 days, and I haven’t checked on the scale (will do so in 10-15 days), but I can already feel the difference. I already run 15-20 miles a week and do quite a bit of weight training, so for these 5 lbs, it’s a nutrition strategy.